I intend to explore the ways in which American civilization extends and imposes itself over “the other.” In Hawai’I, it was accomplished on several levels. The existence of these levels is a major source of contention within the contemporary Hawaiian sovereignty movement. The first level is the international legal level. Partially because of the recently rediscovered petitions registering resistance to annexation to the US, Hawai’I was “annexed” without a treaty – a nearly unprecedented event in world history, and the basis of the current argument that there was in fact no annexation. According to this argument, which is based on a conservative and compelling interpretation of international law, Hawai’i is – rather than an integrated, federated state or even a colony of the US – an occupied state, analogous to Iraq post-US invasion. Another interpretation is that Hawai’I is a colonial possession of the US and should undergo decolonization procedures through the United Nations. A third interpretation is that Hawaiians need to accept the US control over Hawai’i, and aim for a status similar to that of native American tribal nations. This could be achieved through the currently-pending “Akaka Bill.” These disparate readings of Hawaiian history constitute what I have described as multiple realities, and result in a failure of the various factions in the Hawaiian movement to effectively communicate.

In addition to this, there is a cultural colonialism that asserts itself in Hawai’i and pervades the cultural life of both Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians. I have documented many distortions of Hawaiian history, a history that was established as a history of the winners and cast the US in the role of savior of the helplessly backward native, in whose interest it was to be colonized/occupied. Policies banning Hawaiian language, simplifying and essentializing Hawaiian culture and containing it as a form of entertainment also served to undermine the native Hawaiian identity, as many Hawaiians attempted to learn their history and culture through books and schools.

US presence in Hawai’i, therefore, fractures the consciousness of the occupied people, producing a type of tower of babel in which the lines of logic diverge and rarely have points of contact. Whether this was an intentional technique of control is unclear, as it was always(already) dependent on the response of the natives to the assertion of US cultural hegemony.